A space for discussion about issues raised by the pervasiveness of the web.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Copyrights

I myself have partaken in copyright infringement. I did not know at the time I had though. Like I've seen in many of the posts, you order something off the internet and when it gets to you, you find out it's copyrighted material. I "purchased" a clip of video about hybrids to use in a presentation for school. I got an email saying that it was mine to use however I wanted. However, when I put it into the video editing software it had a "watermark" voice that would repeat "this is an illegal copy" when I tried to get my money back the person would not respond.

I can understand how not obeying these laws can be for the "owner." I could imagine it being like playing a video game and beating the level, then someone else comes in and says "I did that" and they get the credit. For some though it helps, for example one of Taylor Swifts singles leaked on to the web early and it actually HELPED sell her new CD.

The movie industry tries to scare people away from selling pirated movies by using ads. The ads that they used to show were very good in my opinion. It compares things to make you realize that pirating is against the law. It definaitly put things in to perspective for me!

Copyright infringement is against the law, however I really don't see everyone who breaks it getting caught. It's something that you just have to deal with. As long as their are rules, their will be people who want to test/break them!